Dickens scholar at WPI polishes a gem, a rare first edition

Friday

Feb 7, 2014 at 6:00 AMFeb 7, 2014 at 10:21 PM

Worcester Polytechnic Institute professor Joel J. Brattin had been promising students in his English literature course that he would have a surprise for them when they came to class Thursday. It wasn't the homemade cookies that sat on the conference table in room 124 of the Salisbury Laboratories building.

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — Worcester Polytechnic Institute professor Joel J. Brattin had been promising students in his English literature course that he would have a surprise for them when they came to class Thursday.

It wasn't the homemade cookies that sat on the conference table in room 124 of the Salisbury Laboratories building.

"He said he would surprise us and he came through," said Britney Atwater, a biomedical engineering and pre-medical student from Spencer, as she eyed a rare set of books that were written by the 19th-century English author Charles Dickens.

Experts believe that the first edition, three-volume set of "Great Expectations" that rested near Ms. Atwater could fetch as much as $80,000 on the collectors' market, based on the recent sales of similar books.

The books, all in excellent condition, were published in 1861.

Mr. Brattin's students had the opportunity to peruse the books on the eve of the author's 202nd birthday.

Mr. Brattin, a professor of English literature who is considered to be a leading Dickens scholar, has been commissioned by the Bradford Exchange to examine the set before it is reproduced.

"I've studied Dickens for a long time, so it is kind of an honor to do this work," he said.

One of Mr. Brattin's chief tasks is to ensure that all of the "typographical eccentricities" of the first edition will be preserved in the reproduction. They might include misplaced commas, archaic spellings and other quirks in the copy.

Mr. Brattin, a graduate of the University of Michigan who earned his doctorate at Stanford University, said officials at the Bradford Exchange want the reproductions to reflect the unique flavor of the period in which they were produced.

Only 1,000 copies of the first edition were published.

Mr. Brattin said that Mr. Dickens continues to influence other authors and that the project allows a more mainstream reading audience the opportunity to see one of the essential forms of the British author's text.

He said Mr. Dickens' appeal has lasted through the generations because of the author's ability to inject humor into his works and because of his deep understanding of people.

"Dickens appealed to a broad audience because he could relate to people," said Mr. Brattin, who has been at WPI since 1990.

Like other books of the era, the first edition of "Great Expectations" was broken up into volumes because it was originally serialized.

Mr. Brattin said that pieces of a novel were published on a weekly or monthly basis to make the works of authors affordable.

"Most people couldn't afford to spend a guinea but they could afford a twopence," he said.

Mr. Brattin, whose doctoral dissertation was focused on Dickens, said that many copies of the first edition were snapped up by Mudie's Circulating Library in England, which charged customers to loan a book.

"That made the first edition of 'Great Expectations' even rarer," Mr. Brattin said. "There were less copies available for the public to get their hands on."

Mr. Battin said he has been working on the project since December and that the end product will look exactly like the original.

"The only difference is that the pages won't be yellowed," he said.

The work has been very meticulous.

For example, Mr. Brattin has been studying the weight of the original paper and the darkness of the black ink. The professor is even measuring the skew of the printed lines on every few pages.

He said he thinks the reproductions are being made for high-end book buyers.

Over his career, Mr. Dickens created many memorable characters and is regarded as one of the greatest novelist of the Victorian period.

Audiences began taking note of him in 1836 with the serial publication of "The Pickwick Papers."

His works of note include "David Copperfield" and "A Christmas Carol."

"Great Expectations" was Dickens' 13th novel. The book is a coming-of-age story about an orphan named Pip.

The British are expected to celebrate Dickens' birthday on Friday with the unveiling of a bronze statute of him in Portsmouth, England, his hometown.

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